Prosthetic implants, in particular breast implants, have a substantial history dating back to the first recorded implant surgery done in 1895 at the University of Heidelberg, Germany. Instead of being for cosmetic purposes, the physician (Dr. Vincent Czerny) performed the procedure by taking fat from the hip of a female for implantation into her breast, which needed reconstruction after the removal of an adenoma. Accordingly, the purpose of this first “implant” was to reconstruct a breast after devastating surgery, rather than to achieve uniform enlargement.
The first real foreign substance injected into body to achieve enlargement is perhaps the injection of paraffin, which comes in a plurality of textures and is primarily composed of petroleum jelly. Dr. Robert Gesurny, an Austrian surgeon who used the material on the testicle of a soldier in an attempt to achieve a more desirable size, first discovered the use of paraffin for boosting the size of bodily objects. Inspired by the results, Dr. Gesurny went on to use the material for breast enlargement injections, universally resulting is severely compromised outcomes.
Modern silicone gel implants, which are well known to those of ordinary skill in the art today, have a long history that dates back over the past seventy years. In fact, some evidence supports Japanese prostitutes after World War II injecting their breasts with various substances, including liquid silicone. The serious worry with silicone in liquid form was that it broke apart, forming granulomas that could then migrate basically anywhere in the body. Liquid silicone is still used, but very rarely, in microscopic amounts, and only using medical-grade silicone that is completely sterile; it remains highly controversial and is associated with serious complications. Breast implants as presently known in the art—silicone as a cohesive mass inside of a polymer “bag” structure—had their debut in the 1960s, developed by Doctor Thomas Cronin and his colleague Frank Gerow.
Although removed from the market for a number of years due to a variety of concerns and complications, silicone was allowed back into breast implants in 2006, albeit in a new form. The FDA, after years of study and experiments, finally allowed silicone gel-filled implants onto the U.S. market, which are the sole breast implant option outside of saline. Today's silicone gel is designed to feel a bit like human fat: very thick, very sticky, and classified as “semi-solid”. Such technology actually represents the fifth generation of silicone implant: the first one developed by Cronin and Gerow, with various innovations, including more secure coatings, thicker gels and more natural shapes.
When any type of implant is inserted into a surgical pocket that a surgeon opens in the body of a patient, the body reacts by forming a protective lining around the prosthetic. This biological structure is referred to as the “capsule”, “tissue capsule” or “scar capsule”, though it should be noted that the structure it is not exactly the same as scar tissue. Although a capsule formation is normal and happens regardless of whether the implant is smooth or textured, silicone or saline, some theorize that problematic capsule growth is potentially attributed to manipulation of tissue during implant placement. In addition, trauma to tissue along or adjacent to the surgical pocket may suffer from the direct formation of scar tissue due to potentially over aggressive manipulation of tissue at the entry site for the implant along the edge of the surgical pocket.
Accordingly, what is needed in the art are new devices that allow for the placement of a prosthetic implant while avoiding the unnecessary manipulation of tissue adjacent to or inside a surgical pocket to minimize the development of scar tissue and the formation of any significant capsule around the prosthetic implant.